News

Nordisk Sikkerhet participates at workshop on Andreeva Bay

Published: 07 November 2016

The workshop titled “The history, current status and prospects of remediation of nuclear and radiation hazardous facilities of Andreeva Bay” was held on 26 October 2016 in Murmansk, Russia. The workshop was organized by the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation “ROSATOM”, the Rosatom Public Council, and the Bellona Foundation.

The main aim of the workshop was to review and discuss results and achievements of the 15-year international cooperation programme for remediation of nuclear and radiation hazardous facilities at Andreeva Bay.

Andreeva Bay is a former naval base located on the Barents Sea in the northwest Russia, which stores a large quantity of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and radioactive waste (RW) originated from Russian nuclear powered submarines and nuclear icebreakers. An accident in 1982 and inadequate SNF and RW storage conditions at the site have raise concerns about Andreeva Bay from nuclear professionals and ecologists around the world. During the last 15 years a number of international assistance projects have been carried out aimed at creating the necessary infrastructure for safe removal of SNF and RW from Andreeva Bay, and for improving the radiation situation at the site.

The Andreeva Bay remediation plans have been supported by donors from Norway, Sweden, Italy, United Kingdom, European Commission, and NDEP Fund (administrated by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development). The Russian Federation is also actively contributing to the preparation of the SNF and RW removal process using its own means. Through the joint efforts of all the contributors, it was made possible to create the SNF management complex comprising of 17 new buildings, and a number of purpose-built machinery and equipment.

The main Norwegian contributors directly at Andreeva Bay are: the Finnmark County Government and Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority. Nordisk Sikkerhet AS implements a project related to the SNF and RW removal from Andreeva Bay. The aim of the Nordisk Sikkerhet’s project is to improve physical protection at the Federal State Unitary Enterprise «Atomflot» - the owner and operator of Russian nuclear-powered icebreakers and special vessels. Atomflot’s ships and infrastructure will be utilized in the transport of ~60-70 trainloads of SNF and RW materials from Andreeva Bay.

The first trial operations of fuel elements retrieval and transportation from Andreeva Bay are planned for the end of 2016-beginning of 2017. It can take up to 10 years to remove all 21,000 fuel assemblies currently located at the site.

The workshop in Murmansk was attended by over 100 participants, including representatives from the Russian state, regional, and local authorities, ROSATOM and its subsidiary organizations, enterprises carrying out the works at Andreeva Bay, donors from Norway, Italy, Sweden, EBRD, the Bellona Foundation, and Norwegian and Russian media.